Couture-Zapata In Place for Strikeforce Challengers 12

Ryan Couture: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com

Ryan Couture will square off against Juan Zapata at Strikeforce Challengers 12, going down Nov. 19 at the Jackson Convention Complex in Jackson, Miss.

For weeks, Couture was touted as appearing on the event against an unnamed opponent. News of the confirmed foe was first reported by MMAjunkie.com Saturday morning, and Sherdog verified the report with sources close to the matchup shortly thereafter. Though the bout has been verbally agreed to, it has not been officially announced.

As the offspring of UFC hall of famer Randy Couture, Ryan is arguably MMA’s most famous son. At lightweight, however, the younger Couture has a much different fighting style than his father. A slick jiu-jitsu player, Couture made both his professional and Strikeforce debut at Challengers 10 in August, submitting opponent Lucas Stark with a triangle choke barely a minute into round one. Fighting for several organizations, including SportFight, the Oregon-based MMA promotion that his father helped found, Couture piloted a highly successful amateur career. The 28-year-old trains at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.

Zapata will be making his Strikeforce debut on Nov. 19. His record stands at .500 with only two professional fights to his credit. He is most recently coming off a September TKO victory over Trey Brown at a Psychout MMA event. He was defeated in his first professional contest, losing by first round submission (knees to the body) to Joe Jordan in June.

Challengers 12 will be headlined by a lightweight bout between former top-contender Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro and Justin Wilcox. Also appearing on the card will be a light heavyweight clash between Antwain Britt and Ovince St. Preux.